July 16

French in the Czech Republic

We left Paris and arrived in Prague on an amazingly easy, smooth and on time flight on  the notoriously late budget airline Easy Jet to start our Eastern Euro leg. We were met by our friend and whisked away to their lovely and spacious apartment that we get to call home for the next while.  

Not only do we get a beautiful place to sleep but we get wine, cheese and charcuterie waiting in the fridge along with a delicious looking bread for breakfast and a personal Czech reservation service for dinner courtesy of our friend Pavel.

We are not quite up to any exploration so we simply unpack and then head around the corner to a small neighborhood Italian bistro where the waiter speaks pretty good English and, we were in France for so long, we find ourselves speaking French!!! I am somehow automatically saying Bonjour, Merci and SVP as if being in a foreign country, I must speak a foreign tongue. Thinking back, my first few days in Paris I slipped with a couple of por favors and de nadas. The menu had the standard Italian names for the pastas, penne, but the rest of the ingredients were totally in Czech so we again put ourselves in the waiters hands.

Imagine Steve's surprise when his spaghetti came with proscuitto and what he thought was salmon. An unusual combination made surprising after the first bite when he figured out the salmon was really melon. And more surprising to find the combination also included ginger in a light creamy sauce and was delicious. This from a man who loves #8 spaghetti with red gravy.....

Awake to a sunny Prague day (a rarity I am told) and the arrival of our friends for a coffee and entire day of a guided walk through Prague. Now I am honestly not sure about blog etiquette and whether if you are with people who you know are reading your blog, can you assume they assume you might write about them? Can you name names? Can you add photos? 

First stop a cafe latte to get a start, next stop brunch at a beautiful old Prague cafe where a simple breakfast of soft boiled eggs and toast comes in a tall martini glass and a tray of luscious homemade jams and butter.  Each order is served on beautiful silver trays and seems a fitting introduction to Prague, a bit of the old world touches.

The day seemed to pass so quickly, walking the cobblestoned streets through some places we would never have found, like New Town-not so new, rather old, through Prague Castle and gardens galore, 

stopping for midday drinks and Prosecco toasts and ending at a lovely restaurant high above the city with a huge view of red rooftops and green trees for a light meal (how lovely to be in a town where three course meals are not de rigeur). 

After 40 days of traveling and sightseeing alone, we must have talked non-stop, so much so that for most of the day the camera remained in Steve's pocket. So much the better, as we will head off today back to the center of the city and start to peek inside all these wonderful places.